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I'm looking to purchase a car transporter trailer to tow behind my Jeep Cherokee.
I've found what appears to be a very nice one on eBay, but I just feel there is something dodgy about it. The buy it now price the chap has on it seems really cheap, and the trailer does not appear to have a number plate. My first thought, was that it's probably stolen.
Are trailer manufacturers required to have a serial number on their trailers?
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1995 Range Rover 4.0
1995 BMW 320i Saloon
1989 BMW 325i Touring
1991 Mercedes 300TE-24
1991 Mercedes 190e
1970 Sunbeam Imp Sport
1966 Valiant 200 Custom
1964 Ford Fairlane 500 Station Wagon
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The lack of a numberplate could just indicate the trailer has been used with a few different towing vehicles, and they just clip the relevant plate on. Or it's already been replaced with a new trailer and they've swapped the plate over.
I think only trailers over a certain weight (which google suggests is 1000kg) need a chassis number, as these are the ones that have a seperate MoT-style test and a certificate to prove which is affixed to the trailer. I think under that weight there's less legislation and they're not required to be tested, hence they don't need to be identifiable. For example any old Tom, Dick or Henrietta can make a trailer out of some angle iron, plywood and an axle and it doesn't need to be registered.
If it's a known brand trailer though, it may well be worth contacting the police department local to the seller just to ask if any have been stolen recently?
To be honest if it's not marked, and you ask the plod and they don'tflag it up as suspicious, just accept it's a cheap trailer. You can't do much more, and it's far more than most folk would do.
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Never trust a man
Who names himself Trevor.
Or one day you might find
He's not a real drug dealer.
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,790
Club RR Member Number: 34
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Trailer QuestionsDez
@dez
Club Retro Rides Member 34
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all BJ tailer have chassis no.s, as do some other brands. if its a BJ flat tilt bed one, twin axle with fiberboard surface, and towing rings and number plate recessed into the load surface, itll be nicked off the AA  |
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Last Edit: May 6, 2007 14:18:21 GMT by Dez
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The lack of a numberplate could just indicate the trailer has been used with a few different towing vehicles, and they just clip the relevant plate on. Or it's already been replaced with a new trailer and they've swapped the plate over. Being rather new to the UK, I'm not sure I understand what you mean that the lack of number plate means the trailer may have been towed by different vehicles. In North America, trailers are issued their own number plates. From what you are saying I am to understand that the trailer is considered part of the car towing it, and would use the same number plate as the vehicle pulling it? |
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1995 Range Rover 4.0
1995 BMW 320i Saloon
1989 BMW 325i Touring
1991 Mercedes 300TE-24
1991 Mercedes 190e
1970 Sunbeam Imp Sport
1966 Valiant 200 Custom
1964 Ford Fairlane 500 Station Wagon
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Trailer Questionsarthurbrown
@GUEST
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^ exactly ^
Hence why they are so easily pinched and flogged on.
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Oh, well, at least it saves on seperate registration fees, and insurance.
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1995 Range Rover 4.0
1995 BMW 320i Saloon
1989 BMW 325i Touring
1991 Mercedes 300TE-24
1991 Mercedes 190e
1970 Sunbeam Imp Sport
1966 Valiant 200 Custom
1964 Ford Fairlane 500 Station Wagon
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Make sure you are legal to tow first if you passed your test after a certain date to tow a decent sized trailer than you have to take a separate test now.
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Why people with welders shouldn't be allowed recreational drugs  |
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post up a link and we can all have a look?
average price here seems to be £500 or so for a decent trailer, i got my transporter for £300 by just being quick as the seller was needing to shift soon as. so cheapness is still out there!
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Make sure you are legal to tow first if you passed your test after a certain date to tow a decent sized trailer than you have to take a separate test now. As I understand it, you are allowed 3500KG MAM (Maximum Allowable Mass) on a standard licence if you passed your test post '97. I expect the Cherokee weighs about 2000kg and the trailer about 500 which would leave about 1000 for the car which is more than enough for most of the cars I would haul. That's for category B. Category B+E as I understand it allows you to drive a car with 3500kg MAM + a trailer, the total combo which exceeds that weight. I think. Frankly I can't figure out my licence. My Photocard says I can drive B, BE, B1 and f, k, p. My counterpart says these are all provisional entitlements. According to the booklet from the DVLA you can't drive a vehicle you hold a provisional licence for unless you display an L sign and have a fully qualified driver on board. I've phoned the DVLA and they say that I'm fully entitled in these categories (except that I'm restricted to an automatic). I passed my driving test in 1990 (I think) so presumably I don't need to take extra upgrading to be able to drive a car and trailer in the B+E category. Except that I'm not sure the DVLA is aware of that as they state that my current entitlements began in 2003 which is when my last Canadian licence ran from. Maybe they asked me when I exchanged the Canadian licence, but I can't remember. Confused yet? So am I. And don't get me started on my automatic only restriction. Because we don't have seperate manual/automatic tests in Canada, when you exchange your licence the DVLA deems you unqualified to drive a manual. Nevermind that my family always drove only manual and that I have owned and driven manual gearbox equipped vehicles. since I started driving. Of course this makes no sense, because when I first moved here and was still driving on my Canadian licence, I had no such restriction ( you can retain you foreign licence for up to one year after moving to the UK). So as the DVLA sees it, any Canadian tourist who lands at Heathrow and rents a car, despite never having driven in the UK and despite being totally unfamiliar with driving on the wrong side of the road, and the rules of the road, is perfectly able to drive a manual. But live here for eight months or a year and go to exchange your licence and suddenly you are less qualified and must be restricted to an automatic. Idiots. Which reminds me, when I have some extra time at work (I'm a solicitor) I really must do a letter on firm letterhead to the DVLA threatening a court action under the Human Rights Act for discrimination based on country of origin if they don't exchange the licence for a full manual qualification. GRRRRRR. |
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1995 Range Rover 4.0
1995 BMW 320i Saloon
1989 BMW 325i Touring
1991 Mercedes 300TE-24
1991 Mercedes 190e
1970 Sunbeam Imp Sport
1966 Valiant 200 Custom
1964 Ford Fairlane 500 Station Wagon
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1995 Range Rover 4.0
1995 BMW 320i Saloon
1989 BMW 325i Touring
1991 Mercedes 300TE-24
1991 Mercedes 190e
1970 Sunbeam Imp Sport
1966 Valiant 200 Custom
1964 Ford Fairlane 500 Station Wagon
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looks fine to me. ask if the pix were taken at the fella's house, and then if it has a BM parked when you arrive, you're grand. and make sure you get inside the hosue if you suspect summat. a theif aint gonna use his own house, nor will he have the keys to someone elses house he's using as a front!
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